Six times is sweeter than five! Shaun Deeb became a six-time World Series of Bracelet winner as he won the Eight Game Mix event for just under $200,000. On a day where Ben Lamb took gold for the first time in a dozen years, Jans Arends grabbed a massive lead in the $100,000 High Roller.
Shaun Deeb Hits Eight Game Field for Six
Shaun Deeb won his sixth WSOP bracelet on Tuesday night as he triumphed in the Eight Game Mix Event #27. Taking the almost $200k top prize, Deeb, who has been fighting to lose wright and win a million-dollar prop bet with the help of friends such as the recently-crowned five-time bracelet winner Josh Arieh, managed to outlast a final table including Daniel Strelitz and Kyle Loman.
Making the heads-up, Deeb only had to look to his left for a moment of inspiration from his poker support system. Josh Arieh was in Shaun Deeb’s corner on the rail, and if this doesn’t put you in mind of Al Pacino in Any Given Sunday, nothing will.
With a passionate rail and a bit of luck in the final hand, Deeb got over the line, as he triumphed against pocket queens with king-ten and captured his sixth WSOP bracelet and the $198,854 top prize.
After winning, Deeb said he will push hard for Player of the Year as he grinds through the WSOP now hunting bracelet #7.
“My poker game is still my poker game. I put the weight loss bet slightly on hold for the World Series. I really wanted to go hard for Player of the Year. Hell, I might even be leading right now, if not I’m right in there with Chad [Eveslage].”
David ‘ODB’ Baker took pleasure in celebrating the cast of the winner’s photo.
Deeb, however, was focused on what is to come.
“I’m going to battle super hard. Just been an awesome couple of weeks of the series. It feels like it’s almost over and we’re not even halfway through. I’m so pumped for the rest of the events.”
Immediately after winning, Deeb celebrated by reminding his great friend of the batting order.
Anyone taking on Deeb in the closing stages of forthcoming events might be tempted to order two racks of beef and some fries, because at the table, Deeb has proven his chops on way too many occasions to be put off by the cards rather than the carbs.
WSOP 2023 Event #27 $1,500 Eight Game Mix Results: | |||
Place | Player | Country | Prize |
1st | Shaun Deeb | United States | $198,854 |
2nd | Aloisio Dourado | Brazil | $122,910 |
3rd | Kyle Loman | United States | $84,329 |
4th | John Bunch | United States | $58,888 |
5th | Daniel Strelitz | United States | $41,867 |
6th | Craig Carrillo | United States | $30,315 |
Ben Lamb Beats Erik Seidel to Gold in Omaha Championship
The WSOP of Irony continued in Event #28 as Ben Lamb, he of the joke swap situation on Day 2, won it all to scoop his second gold WSOP bracelet and the best part of half a million dollars in the Omaha Hi-Lo Championship. The tournament, which costs $10,000 to play, saw Lamb and John ‘World’ Hennigan level in chips on Day 2 when play was about to resume. Hennigan offered a swap since they were both sat on 630,000 chips, to which Lamb replied in the affirmative. Needling his opponent, ‘Johnny World’ laughed, saying he was only joking.
Two days later, it is of course Ben Lamb who tonight owns the Event #28 bracelet, having outlasted everyone to capture the top prize of $492,795.
Here’s how Lamb sealed the deal…
… and celebrated afterwards!
WSOP 2023 Event #28 $10,000 Omaha Hi-Lo Championship Results: | |||
Place | Player | Country | Prize |
1st | Ben Lamb | United States | $492,795 |
2nd | James Chen (US) | United States | $304,571 |
3rd | Luis Velador | Mexico | $211,715 |
4th | Erik Seidel | United States | $150,445 |
5th | Robert Yass | United States | $109,340 |
6th | Brad Ruben | United States | $81,317 |
7th | Johannes Becker | Germany | $61,919 |
8th | James Obst | Australia | $48,300 |
Mao Makes It After Club Flush
Just two players remained in with a chance of gold in Event #26 when play resumed on the final day. Matthew Elsby was leading Renji Mao by almost 2:1, but it didn’t stay that way for long as the Chinese poker player flipped the script. First, he made a river flush with king-six of clubs after Elsby’s two-pair ace-queen had led from pre-flop, through the double-paired flop and all the way to the last card.
Denied the bracelet by one card, Elsby then saw his king-four toppled by Mao’s ace-high, as the latter won the $402,588 top prize and a first career WSOP title. At a final table featuring four Chinese or Taiwanese players of nine, including the Female Poker Hall of Famer J.J.Liu, it was some result.
WSOP 2023 Event #26 $800 NLHE Deepstack Results: | |||
Place | Player | Country | Prize |
1st | Renji Mao | China | $402,588 |
2nd | Matthew Elsby | United States | $248,833 |
3rd | Anthony Potis | United States | $186,250 |
4th | JJ Liu | Taiwan | $140,442 |
5th | Ta-Wei Tou | Taiwan | $106,693 |
6th | Qiwen Chen | China | $81,666 |
7th | Jesse Rosen | South Africa | $62,984 |
8th | Vito Branciforte | Italy | $48,947 |
9th | Michael Younan | United States | $38,332 |
Arends Leads Star Show High Roller Finale
Dutch player Jans Arends leads the $100,000 High Roller final table, going into the last day of action with 16,625,000 chips, more than his nearest challenger Cary Katz with 12,775,000. Behind both Arends and Katz who are going for their first victories is Biao Ding with 8.8 million. Everyone else has less than half of the leader’s stack, but with 12 bracelets between them, the talented trio of Adrian Mateos (7.1m), Jeremy Ausmus (5.7m) and Chance Kornuth (4.6m) simply cannot be counted out.
WSOP 2023 Event #29 $100,000 High Roller Leaderboard: | |||
Place | Player | Country | Chips |
1st | Jans Arends | Netherlands | 16,625,000 |
2nd | Cary Katz | United States | 12,775,000 |
3rd | Biao Ding | China | 8,800,000 |
4th | Adrian Mateos | Spain | 7,175,000 |
5th | Jeremy Ausmus | United States | 5,750,000 |
6th | Chance Kornuth | United States | 4,600,000 |
Hunt on the Charge in Freezeout Event
Matthew Hunt (9,380,000) built up a very healthy stack on the penultimate day of Event #28, chipleading the $1,500-entry NLHE Freezeout event after Day 2. With a very strong showing from fellow Brit Dean Hutchinson (4m), German professional Dietrich Fast (2,595,000) will also be a huge threat to anyone battling for the bracelet on the final day.
WSOP 2023 Event #28 $1,500 NLHE Freezeout Leaderboard: | |||
Place | Player | Country | Chips |
1st | Matthew Hunt | United Kingdom | 9,380,000 |
2nd | Benjamin Ector | United States | 5,690,000 |
3rd | Jean Lhuillier | France | 5,165,000 |
4th | Dean Hutchison | United Kingdom | 4,000,000 |
5th | Santiago Plante | Canada | 3,990,000 |
6th | Rocco Iati | United States | 3,460,000 |
7th | Dietrich Fast | Germany | 2,595,000 |
8th | Peter Nigh | United States | 2,470,000 |
9th | Samuel Roussy-Majeau | Canada | 2,190,000 |
10th | Rene Lazaro | United States | 2,165,000 |
Glaser Going for Glory in Triple Draw
It’s been a hot minute since Benny Glaser last won a WSOP bracelet event, but the British mixed games specialist is on the march in Event #30, with the $1,500 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw going his way in a big style. Glaser has 1,185,000 chips, good for a slim lead over Joh Monnette (1,155,000) at the top of the leaderboard, with others such as Patrick Leonard (1,090,000) and Allen Kessler (900,000) in close attendance.
WSOP 2023 Event #30 $1,500 Limit 2-7 Triple Draw Leaderboard: | |||
Place | Player | Country | Chips |
1st | Benny Glaser | United Kingdom | 1,185,000 |
2nd | John Monnette | United States | 1,155,000 |
3rd | Ziyuan Wang | China | 1,105,000 |
4th | Michael Rodrigues Pires Santos | Portugal | 1,100,000 |
5th | Patrick Leonard | United Kingdom | 1,090,000 |
6th | Alexander Freund | Austria | 1,035,000 |
7th | Josh Damm | United States | 995,000 |
8th | Allen Kessler | United States | 900,000 |
9th | Christopher Chung | United States | 825,000 |
10th | James Williams | United States | 760,000 |
Other Events to Take Place on Day 15
In Event #31, 2,758 entries were reduced to just 122 Day 2 players, with British poker player Barny Boatman (900,000) on the charge. Pushing for a third WSOP bracelet, the Global Poker Award-nominated player is aiming to stay alert… and awake.
WSOP 2023 Event #31 $600 Mixed NLHE/PLO Leaderboard: | |||
Place | Player | Country | Chips |
1st | Troy Nowlin | United States | 2,200,000 |
2nd | Hassan Tahsildar | United States | 1,860,000 |
3rd | Ruslan Nazarenko | Ukraine | 1,860,000 |
4th | Ramiro Garcia | Mexico | 1,790,000 |
5th | Sridhar Sangannagari | United States | 1,645,000 |
6th | Scott Dulaney | United States | 1,575,000 |
7th | Peter Ng | United States | 1,555,000 |
8th | Kasey Orr | United States | 1,550,000 |
9th | Dave Banerjee | United States | 1,520,000 |
10th | Jason Stockfish | United States | 1,450,000 |
Event #32 will see just 55 players return from a starting day field of 1,241 in this 6-Max NLHE event. Maria Ho (860,000), Alex Foxen (750,000) and Noah Schwartz (1,450,000) are all very placed, with the chip leader ‘Big Huni’ himself, a.k.a. Chris Hunichen.
WSOP 2023 Event #32 $3,000 NLHE Six-Max Leaderboard: | |||
Place | Player | Country | Chips |
1st | Chris Hunichen | United States | 2,405,000 |
2nd | Asher Conniff | United States | 2,170,000 |
3rd | Ken Fishman | United States | 1,805,000 |
4th | Ian Matakis | United States | 1,560,000 |
5th | Roman Hrabec | Czech Republic | 1,515,000 |
6th | Peter Rabin | United States | 1,480,000 |
7th | Mark Ioli | United States | 1,470,000 |
8th | Noah Schwartz | United States | 1,450,000 |
9th | Eshaan Bhalla | United States | 1,440,000 |
10th | Julien Sitbon | France | 1,360,000 |
Finally, in Event #33, the $10,000 buy-in Razz Championship, Roy Thung (303,000) leads the 54 players who are still in the hunt for gold from 102 entries. Other big names such as Adam Owen (252,000), Bryce Yockey (244,500) and Brian Yoon (241,500) are well-placed in the top six, but watch out for the 2022 WSOP Player of the Year Dan Zack, who sits ninth in chips with 203,000. Who’d put it past last year’s top dog getting a bite of this prizepool?
WSOP 2023 Event #33 $10,000 Razz Championship Leaderboard: | |||
Place | Player | Country | Chips |
1st | Roy Thung | United States | 303,000 |
2nd | Scott Bohlman | United States | 271,000 |
3rd | David Funkhouser | United States | 257,000 |
4th | Adam Owen | United Kingdom | 252,000 |
5th | Bryce Yockey | United States | 244,500 |
6th | Brian Yoon | United States | 241,500 |
7th | Brad Ruben | United States | 214,000 |
8th | Vasili Lazarou | Greece | 208,000 |
9th | Daniel Zack | United States | 203,000 |
10th | Noah Bronstein | United States | 197,000 |
Eric Persson had some advice for poker players who are making all too common mistakes.
Americas Cardroom professional Kate Lindsay had a great message for female players who want to play in Vegas.
If Dan Smith wins the $100,000 high roller, he said he’d be getting a tattoo… and he’s not the only one who was at risk for a while there.
Finally, Maria Ho makes a very valid point about the truest kind of etiquette at the poker table.
This article originally appeared on PokerStake.com